VZCZCXRO5473
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB
DE RUEHKL #1835/01 2730101
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300101Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7641
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 001835 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
OES FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY MCMURRAY 
INTERIOR FOR FWS/INTERNATIONAL AND NPS/INTERNATIONAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TBIO MY BX ID
SUBJECT: HEART OF BORNEO:  PROTECTING THE WORLD'S OLDEST 
FOREST 
 
REF: BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 0497 
 
¶1.  (U) Portions of this message are sensitive but 
unclassified. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary:  Malaysian support for the Heart of Borneo 
(HOB) conservation initiative is solidifying at all levels. 
WWF, which is actively promoting the initiative, expects the 
leaders of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei to sign a 
declaration formally launching the HOB program at the 
December ASEAN Summit.  During a visit to Sabah State, in 
northern Borneo, the Ambassador found broad support for HOB 
among public and private sector stakeholders, as well as 
appreciation for the Secretary,s July announcement that the 
U.S. would be contributing $100,000 to the initiative. 
Sabahan supporters viewed the USG pledge as a significant 
expression of global interest in HOB that would raise the 
profile of the project within the three governments and 
encourage their efforts to launch it.  Environmental 
activists working to protect orangutans and other endangered 
species are pleased that HOB would facilitate the creation of 
critical migratory corridors between the fragmented parks of 
the island, as well as increase the area of tropical forest 
land preserved from development.  Delivering quickly on our 
funding pledge will help sustain momentum toward the formal 
launch of this multinational effort to protect and preserve 
the world,s oldest rainforest.  We also should be working 
now to line up more substantial and sustained funding, which 
could be announced immediately following the release of the 
HOB declaration in December.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Protecting the World,s Oldest and Most Biodiverse Forest 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The undisturbed primary forest of Borneo is 130 
million years old, far older than the forests of Brazil and 
Africa and rivaled in age only by the Daintree Forest of 
northern Australia.  The longer time span has allowed for the 
evolution of greater biodiversity, the range and depth of 
which is still unplumbed.  Over the past decade in Borneo, 
previously unknown species of plants and animals have been 
discovered at an average rate of 3 per month.  The area 
provides habitat for 54 species listed as endangered or 
critically endangered by the International Union for 
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 
including the orangutan and the Sumatran rhino; as well as 
species such as the Malayan sun bear that IUCN suspects may 
be endangered, but that have been so poorly studied that 
there is insufficient data to confirm their status. 
 
¶4.  (U) Borneo,s forests extend across three national 
borders ) Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei ) and the border 
between two Malaysian states ) Sabah and Sarawak.  Much of 
the natural environment has been severely degraded by 
logging, the establishment of plantations (particularly palm 
oil), and mining and other extractive activities. 
Significant swaths of primary and secondary forest remain, 
however, in 23 different parks and conservation areas 
maintained by the nine different government entities on the 
island (the three national and two Malaysian state 
governments mentioned above, and the four Indonesian 
provinces of Kalimantan).  As conceived and promoted by the 
conservation organization WWF, the Heart of Borneo (HOB) 
program would coordinate and expand the conservation efforts 
of these governments in an integrated program covering as 
much as 220,000 square kilometers ) an area roughly the size 
of the state of Minnesota. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) WWF has been careful to respect the sensibilities 
of the governments concerned and insists that it is acting 
only as a catalyst.  Nevertheless, WWF-Malaysia expects that 
WWF headquarters soon will designate HOB as one of only five 
&Class A8 projects that the organization deems to be the 
world,s top conservation priorities.  Policymakers from 
Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei discussed HOB and approved the 
concept in principle at the July 2006 ASEAN ministerial 
meeting in Kuala Lumpur.  The Secretary pledged $100,000 to 
support HOB during her visit to KL for the ministerial. 
Since July, officials of the three countries, with support 
and encouragement from WWF, have been working through the 
steps necessary to formally launch the initiative.  In 
Malaysia, these efforts have focused on bringing the two 
state governments of Sabah and Sarawak on board.  (Comment: 
Malaysian state governments have a measure of independence 
from the Federal government, in particular in matters of land 
and forest usage.  Buy in from Sabah and Sarawak will be 
critical to the success of HOB.)  The Malaysian internal 
 
KUALA LUMP 00001835  002 OF 003 
 
 
process culminated in a meeting on the island of Labuan (off 
Western Sabah) September 21-22, at which all parties agreed 
in principle to support HOB.  While work continues within and 
between the three national governments to finalize 
arrangements, WWF officials are optimistic that the leaders 
of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei will sign a declaration 
formally launching the Heart of Borneo initiative at the 
ASEAN Summit in Cebu, Philippines December 10-13, 2006. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Critical Role of Wildlife Corridors 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Ambassador and Economic Counselor visited the Danum 
Valley conservation area in Eastern Sabah ) one of the 
proposed keystone parks for the Heart of Borneo program ) 
and Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, to discuss HOB with 
government officials, researchers, environmentalists and 
other stakeholders.  The trip also provided opportunities for 
public outreach to highlight U.S. support for nature 
conservation worldwide and the Secretary,s funding pledge 
for HOB in particular.  The primary forest of the Danum 
Valley contrasts starkly with the logged-over secondary 
forest on its borders, yet 10 years of research by the 
husband-and-wife team of Dr. Isabelle Lackman and Marc 
Acrenaz, directors of the local NGO Hutan, has convinced them 
that orangutans, pygmy elephants and other species indigenous 
to Borneo can survive even in secondary forest zones under 
the right conditions.  One key measure is to ensure that 
natural corridors are preserved to allow animals to migrate 
freely between conserved areas.  Lackman and Acrenaz cited 
genetic research showing that the estimated 1100 orangutans 
living in the Kinabatangan River Valley of Eastern Sabah, an 
area where palm oil cultivation is widespread, live in 10 
different family groupings that rarely intermingle.  Unless 
this situation changes, inbreeding could lead to the 
extinction of these isolated groups within two to three 
decades.  They expressed strong support for the potential of 
the Heart of Borneo to address this type of challenge by 
linking up protected habitat areas with established migratory 
corridors. 
 
¶7.  (U) Another local researcher, Wong Siew Te of the Danum 
Valley Research Center (and a Phd. candidate of the 
University of Montana) highlighted the important role wild 
pigs play in sustaining Borneo,s forests.  Seeds from the 
dipterocarp trees that make up 90 percent of the native 
primary forest are a significant food source for Borneo,s 
&bearded pig.8  Historically, herds of pigs propagated the 
tree seeds in wide ranging migrations.  Wong cited accounts 
of migrations of thousands of pigs, which sometimes took half 
a day to pass a given point.  Such mass migrations no longer 
occur in Eastern Sabah.  Wong acknowledged that he has no 
research to support his supposition, but he believes the 
absence of mass migrations is due to the break up of large 
forested areas by logging, plantations and other human 
activities.  He speculates that this will lead to a decline 
in new tree recruitment that will become noticeable in the 
next 10-20 years.  Like Lackman and Acrenaz, he supports the 
creation of wildlife corridors that would be facilitated by 
Heart of Borneo. 
 
---------------------------- 
Appreciation for USG Support 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Public and private sector stakeholders in Sabah 
expressed appreciation for the Secretary,s funding pledge. 
In a joint press conference with the Ambassador at the Kota 
Kinabalu Wetlands Center, WWF-Malaysia Chairman Tengku Zainal 
Adlin called the U.S. contribution a &significant expression 
of global interest8 in Heart of Borneo.  Speaking to the 
media, he stressed that WWF was only a catalyst and 
emphasized that the individual governments would decide the 
best approach to managing their resources.  In private 
conversation, he said he thought the U.S. contribution would 
raise the profile of the project within the three governments 
and encourage their efforts to launch it. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Deputy Chief Minister for Tourism and the 
Enviroment Chong Kah Kiat told the Ambassador the Sabah State 
government &is all for a WWF-led Heart of Borneo.8  When 
Tengku Adlin demurred and said that governments needed to be 
in the lead, Deputy CM Chong countered &do not expect the 
governments to take the initiative.8  &You must push,8 he 
told the WWF-Malaysia Chairman, &otherwise no one will 
push.8  Chong also lauded the Secretary,s pledge as a means 
to raise the profile of HOB and encourage the support of 
 
KUALA LUMP 00001835  003 OF 003 
 
 
senior leaders in the three national governments.  He 
stressed the need for &strong support at the political 
level8 to overcome vested interests. 
 
-------------------- 
Maintaining Momentum 
-------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Comment:  We did not encounter any of the concerns 
reftel reports with the size of the U.S. pledge.  However, 
two months have passed and at some point questions will start 
to be asked about how and when the pledge will be 
implemented.  Delivering quickly on the Secretary,s promise 
will help sustain momentum toward the formal launch of this 
multinational effort to protect and preserve the world,s 
oldest rainforest.  We also should be working now to line up 
more substantial and sustained funding, which ideally would 
be announced immediately following the release of the HOB 
declaration in December. The Heart of Borneo project will 
take years to plan and implement, and will require a large 
measure of deferred gratification from the people of Borneo. 
A clear global commitment to provide significant long-term 
funding for this effort will give the governments involved 
the confidence they need to undertake it. 
LAFLEUR